Ben Kweller Sha Sha Ato By: Eric Greenwood
Now that he's old enough to have something substantive to say, Ben Kweller reinvents himself, somewhat deceptively, as a sarcastic slacker songwriter in the tradition of Stephen Malkmus and Rivers Cuomo. Kweller spent the late 1990's as the child prodigy star of the Texas [...]

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Future Bible Heroes Eternal Youth Instinct By: Eric Greenwood
Even genius songwriters with buckets of talent to spare have their weak moments, and Future Bible Heroes has long been Stephin Merritt's flimsiest endeavor. I think it's because of his lack of control over the proceedings. Merritt shares the songwriting with his old [...]

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Interpol Turn On The Bright Lights Matador By: Eric Greenwood
From the first notes of Turn On The Bright Lights I knew that all of my preconceived notions about Interpol were wrong. I imagined a fey, new wave throwback similar to The Faint based on photographs of these guys in conjunction with all [...]

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Superdrag Last Call For Vitriol Arena Rock By: Eric Greenwood
I saw Superdrag on Conan O'Brien the other night, and I couldn't believe how much they rocked. It was sweet relief witnessing such a raucous performance after having to listen to Al Franken wax unfunny with a bored Conan about the Bush [...]

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Mull Historical Society Loss Blanco Y Negro/xl/baggars Banquet By: Eric Greenwood
Flirting with that ever-so-English world of whimsical pop, the Mull Historical Society dresses itself in a cloak of many colors, each one representing a different musical flavor. Like its Welsh counterpart, Super Furry Animals, Mull Historical Society relishes its offbeat fancy [...]

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Enon High Society Touch And Go By: Eric Greenwood
I found out that I'd been pronouncing Enon incorrectly when John Schmersal introduced his band at a live show recently. "Hi, we're 'E-nun'", he said- emphasis on the long 'e' with no attention paid to the second syllable whatsoever. I found his [...]

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Shiner The Egg De Soto By: Eric Greenwood
I met this guy at a party recently who absolutely freaked out because I had never heard of Shiner. Bands slip through the cracks. It happens. You can’t know about every good band all of the time; otherwise, life would be boring. [...]

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The Natural History S/T Star Time By: Eric Greenwood
The Natural History's raw, angular rock might seem suspect amidst the flurry of Strokes and White Stripes copycats popping up out of nowhere these days, but just chalk it up to coincidence because, apart from the band's recording aesthetic, there's truly little in the [...]

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Mclusky Mclusky Do Dallas Too Pure By: Eric Greenwood
What year is it again? 2002. Hrm. Looks like Mclusky missed the Chicago noise rock boat by about a decade, but they're English, so it's ok, right? Rudeness and shock value have little effect these days unless you're a white [...]

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